homemade filter box

[jamiequin]

i went to b&q and bought a water box and lid. i got it to store the food and test kits ect. today i went to a koi shop and i see a tank connector and it gave me ideas. i drilled a hole in the box and connected the new box to the old 1. i then put in some media and some filter pads the water is already better looking and its only been a hour or so. you should try it. bugdet filter. it must of cost me 50pound if that.

[aquitori]

You can make any tanks into a filter, it is way cheaper than buying a store or brand name one.

[jamiequin]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquitori You can make any tanks into a filter, it is way cheaper than buying a store or brand name one.

but as good?

[aquitori]

Of course, it all depends on the filter media you use. JMat is still the best filter media for me. I have 2 old acrilic aquaruim tanks I used for my bio and it works just as well. Remember that the more biofiltration you have the better the water is. Even 50 gallon drums(food grade) will work too..here in the states you can gret them for $20 a barrel and fill them up with JMat...so $20 barrel, $70 JMat sheet and fittings...it is still under $200...cheap...

[PapaBear]

Homemade pond, filters, masonry, everything. A well designed DIY project has extra rewards that go beyond merely posessing it

[junglegeorge12]

Well, for me, buying the most expensive and sitting back feeling like a proud satisfied cat due to having the 'best' or at least most expensive or extravagant gives a certain feeling of accomplishment and reward.

Designing and building your own that is BETTER and BIGGER is far more rewarding, costs can swing either way depending on the project and amount of money needed to DIY certain things.

Although a DIY for a small pond is cheaper, a DIY that takes 4 1000 gallon vortexes made from cement or cisterns, although rewarding and if done properly way outperforms a smaller nexus or bead filter, those huge cisterns, with enough media to fill them of a quality type, and large fittings, are not so 'cheap' if you do the whole cost analysis. We kind of luck out down here due to being such a prolific hurricane zone. The factory for those cisterns is just around the corner and they will customize them for cheap. There are also little backyard businesses everywhere of taking them from factories and such and cleaning them to food grade and reselling supercheap. I never ran into that in the US.
Since we have lava rock laying everywhere, PVC factories and other things, the only real outlay down here becomes the media. In the continental states it would cost more to do from my experience.
I think a 200 gallon cistern (thin tall version) used for vortexes runs about $90 here retail, less if u know the factory guys or buy from a reseller who cleans old ones. We get the 55 gallon ones for 10 or 15, or from the countryside almost anywhere for free. I can pick up used 1000 gallon ones for $125 and new for $300.

[PapaBear]

Quote: Originally Posted by junglegeorge12 Well, for me, buying the most expensive and sitting back feeling like a proud satisfied cat due to having the 'best' or at least most expensive or extravagant gives a certain feeling of accomplishment and reward. Designing and building your own that is BETTER and BIGGER is far more rewarding, costs can swing either way depending on the project and amount of money needed to DIY certain things... .

I suppose it all depends on how one defines "Best". For filtration my definition would be "works perfect and easy to maintain". So many of the off the shelf "best" units I've seen pond owners cry about after shelling out Thou$and$ have been major disappointments in the performance department it makes me cringe sometimes. Of course a lot of that has to do with salesmen who know more about commissions than they do about Koi or water

[junglegeorge12]

I suppose that is true to an extent papabear. For me 'best' is not necessarily the least maintenance. I like going out and working on the ponds, my son and I really have a good time doing it together. He pets the koi now! Touched his first one in the water by using food to get it close this week!

I guess to me the best would be one I can either maintain myself or have it automated (flush valves, timers etc), so I can leave town and not worry, and that keeps low tds, (ph6.8-7.4), soft water like Momotaro shoots for. It would also mean a system that either has seeded in or growing beneficial spirulina and algaes on the wall and bottom for them and health and maximum growth, but not clouding the water. That is a fine balance that needs tuning over time in every different location due to all the influences (incoming water, sunlight, UV, natural algaes in that area, source water, what the wind and rain bring in, etc). Not sure there is a 'perfect system' that fits everyone. I also think there is more than one way to do many things. I think a shower with BH is an essential part of any really good system.

[PapaBear]

Quote: Originally Posted by junglegeorge12 I like going out and working on the ponds, my son and I really have a good time doing it together. He pets the koi now! Touched his first one in the water by using food to get it close this week!... .

My wife LIVES for wading out in the pond, stirring up any muck the pumps haven't taken care of, tending her water lillies, etc..., while the Kio swim around her ankles . I just take a great deal of pleasure in building anything that kicks the butt of whatever I might otherwise have to buy. (If I still had access to a lathe and a mill I'd build the pump you and Luke have been scheeming on myself and send one to each of you just for grins )

[junglegeorge12]

It is well on the way papabear, been carving and trimming away. My hope is for Bickal to have the whole wet end in his hands within a month. I did quite a bit of reearch on several different aspects to find the right type of prop, and the right wet end design. The actual carving is just the 'last part', but I want every little element to be perfect so it rocks in terms of performance. Once in production it will be a huge money saver for small breeders.